Williamson Legacy Group LLC Takes Position in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Williamson Legacy Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,449 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $727,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 332.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 108 shares of the payment services company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in American Express during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in American Express during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 84.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AXP. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of American Express from $315.00 to $344.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of American Express from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

Insider Activity at American Express

In related news, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total transaction of $4,765,295.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 23,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,492.04. This represents a 38.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AXP opened at $300.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $307.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $286.43. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $214.51 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27. The firm has a market cap of $211.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 32.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Express will post 15.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s payout ratio is 19.99%.

American Express Company Profile

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.